60 THE RISE OF MAN. 



fortuitous, for here we have indeed a holy family. It is 

 an uncultured primitive couple of a speechless tribe of 

 forest men, yet the hope of progress and a brave determi- 

 nation to take up the battle of life for the sake of the babe 

 that is born to them becomes visible in the mother's eyes. 



Gabriel Max was equal to the great task of showing 

 man at the beginning of his career in a low state, and he 

 understood how to make us comprehend that we behold 

 here, not the downfall to a state of degradation, but the 

 rise to a higher and nobler development of life. We can 

 plainly see that these creatures, half animal, half man, 

 contain in their aspirations the grand possibilities of hu- 

 manity. The picture is of extraordinary exactness if 

 judged from the standpoint of anthropology, but even if 

 it were not, the main idea of the artist comes out clearly 

 and is vividly pictured before us a brute rising into man- 

 hood ! This much is certain, that the artist has under- 

 stood how to portray the ancestors of man not as mere 

 brutes, but as aspirants for a higher life, at a moment 

 when their souls were blossoming out into that fuller 

 mentality, which, with its intellectual depth and moral 

 breadth, we call human. 



Gabriel Max was prepared for his task in a twofold 

 manner ; first by his study of the physiology and anatomy 

 of the ape and his knowledge of the doctrine of evolution, 

 and secondly by his previous work in the line of Madonna 

 paintings. The influence of the latter is so strong that 

 the weak point noticeable in all the Christian representa- 

 tions of the holy family (the depression of the ideal father 

 into a mere foster-father) is still apparent here. The 

 father of the babe looks too much like St. Joseph, like an 

 old reliable servant and an uninterested guardian, not like 

 a husband and parent, who takes a personal interest in 

 his wife and child and would burn with rage at any danger 

 that might disturb the peace of his little family circle. 



